Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 63.5% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 203 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy bought 5,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 389,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,830,015.72. This represents a 1.30% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total value of $717,982.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at $45,337,979.58. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MUSA shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $350.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $483.17.

Murphy USA Trading Down 0.4%

MUSA opened at $376.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $561.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $383.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.82 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $5.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.63% and a net margin of 2.52%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.92 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Murphy USA Company Profile

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.